


breathing space

by meguri_aite



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Post Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 12:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4435958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meguri_aite/pseuds/meguri_aite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>breath′ing space` (n.)<br/>1. sufficient space that permits freedom of movement or work<br/>2. an opportunity to pause, relax, or decide what to do next</p>
            </blockquote>





	breathing space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DimensionSlip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DimensionSlip/gifts).



The flickering stream of files on her screen - photos and camera footage in fast-forward, continuously supplied by Karanamori-san for the last twelve hours - slowly blurs all data into luminescent white noise. Akane sighs and leans back in her chair. If she lets her eyes rest for a bit now, it may give her another hour or two of productivity.

Behind the closed eyelids, the world melts into a static of working processors and dry air conditioning. It feels a bit incomplete without the soft clicking of the keyboard, but Inspector Shimotsuki has requested Kunizuka-san’s assistance with tracking the lead Akane has pointed her way, and almost everyone else is in the field with Division 3. Akane frowns without opening her eyes. She will need all the help she can get once she cracks this puzzle, but just calling them back from a severely short-handed team only so that they could be on stand-by feels unjustified.

She feels a touch of something cold and careful on her shoulder, and then the smell of tea tickles her nose.

“Tired?”

Ginoza-san is looking at her from above, a steaming mug in his good hand. She watches him place it cautiously on her desk, and briefly wonders if the heat wouldn’t have been easier to handle with low-sensitivity prosthetics, but doesn’t ask.

“A bit, but I’m okay, really,” she says with a smile.

Ginoza-san worries always, for everyone. He is a kind person, and a reliable teammate - has always been.

“Any luck with making sense of the CCTV?”

She shakes her head. Her physical condition is not in top form after a week of non-stop investigation, and increasing sleep deprivation takes a toll on the speed of thoughts, but the answer is still just outside her grasp. Pity there isn’t a pack Spinel at hand, to help her mind ease into an optimal state for contemplation and insight.

Ginoza-san inhales once, sharply, looks at her questioningly.

“Do you miss him?”

She realizes she must have voiced her last thought. Her exhaustion must be greater than she had realized. This case isn’t the easiest she has handled.

Before her thoughts can arrange themselves once again around the jagged-edged pieces of the puzzle that still refuses to come together, she turns them to the question at hand.

“I have no doubt I’ll see him again,” she answers after a pause. The absence of tobacco scent is as tangible to her as the fragrance of the tea slowly cooling on her desk. “So, no.”

Ginoza-san looks away, peers into the window, which offers a view of the streetlights - a more colorful and at the same time dimmer source of light compared to the insides of the Public Safety Bureau office.

“I do,” he says, turning back to her.

Ginoza-san is kind, she thinks again.

“I would gladly hit him on sight, but I miss him, too,” he continues. “It’s easy to miss everyone once they are gone. Easier than missing them while they are still here.”

Akane takes in the pensive expression on his face, and reaches for the cup. Its warmth is immediate, even if not effective against all the exhaustion settled deep in her bones. But it seems enough to give a gentle nudge to her thoughts, spurring them to shake off the slumber.

“Kougami-san is different,” she says, and catching a change in Ginoza-san’s expression,  continues. “Not because of his experience or personality, but because he is on the run, not dead.”

She isn’t really used to thinking about it, but now that she has said it, it rings true to her. They might not know where Kougami-san is, nor have the first idea of when they will cross paths again, but as long as his case is open, as long as there is no closure, there is no reason to think they won’t. The likelihood of any outcome is a changeable thing, dependent on too many factors, but not a single one of them dictates resignation.

“And - others?”

Ginoza-san’s voice gruff and tinged with worry. She sends him a reassuring smile, thankful for his concern about her emotional well-being, but not in need of it.

“I’m not sure,” she says honestly.“They are no longer with us, but I don’t feel like they are gone.”

She takes a sip from the cup and looks for suitable words.

“I remember them,” she begins,” and I remember the things I’ve learnt from them. I remember why they are both important, and I remember why we lost them.”

Ginoza-san nods silently, eyes turned down on his gloved hand.

“And I know I must work harder. This is what I can do, and those memories - they help me.”

“Reminders of weaknesses and follies,” he says, quietly.

“That would make them really heavy memories, Ginoza-san,” she disagrees. ”Wouldn’t that fail to do justice to what these people were, what they did?”

She closes her eyes for a minute, letting her mind wander from one memory to another.

Masaoka-san, calling her ojou-chan, lending an ear, lending a hand. Kagari-san, a grin on his face, a joke for every situation, the smell of real food cooking.

Grandmother, always warm and attentive, always bright-eyed despite her years.

Akane forces her eyes open.

“What you have talked about , what they have told you, whatever you shared - that stays with you. And as you relied on them in life, you draw strength from them as you live on. They have taught you something, and you rely on it to support you. I rely on it, as I do my best to work better.”

Her words ring in the quiet room, and Ginoza-san keeps looking at her silently.

“You are amazing, Tsunemori,” he says after a pause, laughing under his breath.

“They are, actually. I’m just trying to do my best,” she answers sincerely, and because his laughter is lightening the mood, she adds, “and do you know, sometimes it feels like I’m really talking to them, as if they are holos in the same room as me! Sometimes they even give me a good smack on the head.”

He gives her an incredulous look, and his laughter changes into a full-bodied one.

“Holos! Amazing, what did I say,” he manages to get out.

She doesn’t really know why it is so funny, as she was being honest, but she likes the unexpected reaction her words has gotten. She smiles and finishes his tea.

“Thank you, Ginoza-san,” she says, grateful.

Her energy is still running low, and nothing short of proper sleep can fix that, but there is not a little bit of clarity restored in her mind. Be it from the living or the gone, she will take whatever help she can get.

“Anytime, Tsunemori.”

**Author's Note:**

> happy parallels, dimensionslip! thank you for giving me this opportunity to write about the amazing and complex character that is tsunemori akane, and i only hope this story does her some justice, and is something that you would enjoy reading. 
> 
> the story is based on season 1 and season 2 material and does not include any significant movie knowledge, as i haven't seen it by the time i was writing this.


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